Historic Maine library to be renovated with humanities grant

The National Endowment for the Humanities will help renovate a historic library in southern Maine that dates to the 19th century.

The town of Kittery has received $500,000 from the agency for renovation and expansion of Rice Public Library, said Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King. Town manager Kendra Amaral said the grant “will help Kittery transform the 19th century Rice Building into a 21st century Library.”

The library opened in the 1880s and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in the 1970s. Collins and King said the grant funding will help the town “renovate infrastructure that is more than a hundred years old, allowing the people of Kittery and southern Maine to continue to enjoy the library and its array of educational services into its second century.”